Sunday, February 7, 2010

Ever since I stumbled upon Citizen's Calibre 8700 Model 8000-54L while surfing the net last Saturday, I've been more than a little obsessed with watches and finding out what makes em tick. Which is quite inexplicable because for the longest time ever, my attitude towards timepieces has always been if it keeps decent time and looks good, I couldn't care less what went on behind the dial of a watch let alone the subtle differences between the various movements for automatic watches.

Citizen Bl8000-54l Eco-drive.

And in the span of a week, I probably know more about watches than I ever did these past 27 years, thanks to the hours spent trawling the net and googling for specifications & terminologies. Not that I'm an expert at any rate mind you but at least now I can tell the difference from an automatic and a kinetic and the higher the bps (beats per second) of a movement, the more accurately the watch keeps time.

Perhaps the thing that really kept me going was the realization that apart from keeping time (which boring digital watches can do), carefully crafted time pieces could be works of art too. That and a new found appreciation for analogue watches with various functions like perpetual calendars & minute repeaters as well as the unsurpassed beauty of mechanical watches. The wonder one obtains from peering into a mechanical watch and seeing the little gears tick.

While it did seem ironic (initially at least) to be whiling away the hours reading up about watches that keep impeccable time, I wouldn't say it was a waste of time. Got the aforesaid Citizen watch from Amazon (should have checked ebay first pity..), finally got round to setting up my ebay account, ebayed dad's present and sussed out some great deals for the next couple of watches I intend to get. As to which I intend to get first, it's a toss up between the Seiko Premier Automatic SPB001 and the Seiko Premier Kinetic Direct Drive SRH009P1. It'll probably be the former. Even though the most accurate and high end automatic movement will never be as accurate as a quartz, there is a beauty in a carefully crafted automatic that no quartz, exquisite or otherwise can ever replicate.

Now just take a look at that baby. That'd be worth all the lunches sacrificed for it haha.

6 comments:

The pictured watch looks good. But having owned a Seiko automatic watch myself, I must say think about the servicing of the watch before you buy. I called up Seiko in Singapore recently and they don't service the mechanical watches you bought from overseas (that are not sold here). So if you ever need to get the watch serviced, you'll probably have to go Japan.

erm... i have no idea what calibre and i never noticed the accuracy because i don't always wear it. =p seems ok so far. mine is a model only available in Japan, and the sgp service centre says they don't have the tools to service it. u can read about the watch here. http://home.watchprosite.com/show-forumpost/fi-17/pi-2385446/ti-399446/s-0/

They actually asked for the model no. of my watch and not the movement. maybe they're not keen to service it since it's not bought here? hmm.. my fren who's family owns a watch shop asks me to go back to Seiko. So i think the only option is to fly to Japan.